Memories
by sockheadx
Summary: /OishiEiji/ A set of very loosely connected drabbles and ficlets about the Golden Pair's memories. All stories written for LJ's 30 kisses challenge. Further details inside.
1. 013: excessive chain

**About this collection: **_Memories _is a collection of short stories, drabbles, and ficlets all written for the 30_kisses challenge on LJ. This challenge is to take a list of 30 themes and write a story around each. The theme can be interpreted however you want, but every story must contain a kiss in some form (even if it's just a Hershey's kiss).

I chose to upload these all in one story instead of separately because some of them are rather short. In every "chapter," I will give you the theme I based the story around, as I did them out of order (it's allowed and pretty much expected). Some of these will have plot; most will not. Don't expect regular updates. This is a "write when I feel like it" thing. XD

**Disclaimer: **I don't own these characters, nor am I making profit off of them. I'm just a sad, sad little person.

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><p><strong>Theme: <strong>#013; excessive chain  
><strong>Title: <strong>Jealousy 

There were days when Oishi wondered if he gave Eiji too much leeway; times when he wondered if he let his touchy-feely partner get away with too much. Today was slowly amounting to one of those days and this was definitely one of those times.

With his arms crossed over his chest, Oishi leant back against the chain link fence surrounding their school's tennis court. The team was currently in the middle of practice, but Oishi's eyes were more drawn to the sight beside him than to the light volleys happening on the green clay before him.

"That's what I keep saying, _o-chibi_!" The familiar voice of Eiji, his boyfriend of several years, had grabbed the attention of anyone unlucky enough to be standing nearby.

"_O-chibi_'s" indignant huff somehow made it through all of Eiji's whining. "_Senpai_, I don't really understand what the problem is."

Oishi took a deep breath and let it out slowly. Honestly, he couldn't even remember what the argument began over. All he knew was it had been going on for some time before he had started paying attention. The only detail relevant to Oishi at that moment was the fact that Eiji had gone from having his arm draped across Echizen's shoulders in his usual friendly fashion to standing in front of him and cupping his face.

What had originated as curiosity over the situation was quickly turning into jealousy, but he wasn't yet sure if he should intervene at that point. He trusted Eiji. He didn't want to get worked up if this turned out to be nothing. After all, it would all turn out okay in the end, right? It always did. A firm believer in the "if you tell yourself something enough times, you will eventually start to believe it" philosophy, Oishi stood back and let his own reassuring words keep him from acting.

Eiji's shoulders rose and fell in an annoyed sigh. "Your hat is the problem! No-one can see your eyes if your hat's brim is always in the way!"

'Echizen's eyes?' Thoroughly confused, Oishi really wished he had caught the beginning of this exchange (or at least the last five minutes of it).

"What does it matter if no-one can see my eyes?" Echizen's voice rang of defiance. His lips made a firm line on his face.

Eiji looked utterly frustrated. Oishi knew the reason for his upset: Echizen wasn't understanding the point the redhead was trying to make. 'Whatever that might be,' Oishi mused. Confident that this wasn't going anywhere he'd have to worry about, Oishi was now completely comfortable with watching the event unfold.

"It matters! It matters!" Eiji insisted. His hands moved from Echizen's cheeks to his shoulders, giving them a light shake to emphasize his point. Eiji glanced back at Oishi with an exasperated expression. A faint gleam in his eye was all the warning Oishi had that Eiji's intent might not be so innocent after all. With not another word, Eiji plucked Echizen's hat from his head and placed it atop his own.

Echizen's immediate displeasure was apparent. His lips were poised to protest the pilfered headpiece, but Eiji's index finger against his mouth stopped whatever may have come out.

"Girls need to see this cute face in order to fall in love with you," Eiji explained further, using a logic that only made sense to him. He leaned into Echizen's face, his lips not even a centimeter from the other boy's. "_Ne_, Echizen?"

Two things happened simultaneously after this. Echizen grew some awareness of the situation and pushed himself away from his _senpai_. At the same time, Oishi walked the three steps it took to get to Eiji and pulled him away from the younger boy by way of a hand on his shoulder.

This was too far. He gave Eiji a lot of slack, but this...this was too much. The nerve! For him to actually think about kissing another person was too much for Oishi. He turned the other boy to face him, fully prepared to lecture him on the proper decorum one should exhibit while in a relationship...and stopped when he saw the look on Eiji's face. The devilish smile that adorned Eiji's lips and the utterly mischievous glint in Eiji's deep blue eyes stopped Oishi right in his tracks.

He placed a chaste kiss on his shocked partner's lips and spread his arms around him. "I was wondering what it would take for you to reel me in, Oishi."

Oishi's tension left his body with a deep sigh. He held Eiji close and buried his face in his partner's hair. A soft chuckle escaped him; he couldn't help it. It really was impossible for him to stay mad at Eiji.

Yes, he definitely gave Eiji too much leeway, but he knew Eiji would always come back to him when the day was done. It always turned out okay in the end.

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><p><strong>AN: **To those fans of _And Here, We Meet Again_: I have not abandoned it! I apologize very, very deeply from the bottom of my heart! D: Life happened. I plan on finishing chapter 5 and getting the epilogue done this weekend. Hopefully, 5 will be up next Friday (always leave time for editing ^^). Keep your fingers crossed!


	2. 011: gardenia

**Description: **Eiji misses Oishi when he leaves town.  
><strong>Warning:<strong> FLUFF! Oh, God, the fluff. D:  
><strong>Disclaimer:<strong> I don't own. I wish I did. Golden Pair would be a lot more blatant in canon. :)

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><p><strong>Theme:<strong> #011; gardenia  
><strong>Title:<strong> Flower Language

Eiji was frantic. His eyes flew over the webpage in front of him at lightening speed. He searched for something, anything, that would give him a clue.

He spared a glance back at the source of his current problem. A pretty white flower sat in a red pot by the window of the bedroom he shared with Oishi. It was a gift from him; something to remind Eiji of his love while he was out of town.

Eiji sighed dramatically as he turned to face the search engine. The once shiny green leaves surrounding the fragrant flower were turning a sickly yellow color. He didn't know what he had done wrong! He watered it daily. He made sure no bugs were trying to hurt it. He even sang to it! Nothing he did seemed to cheer the plant up. He finally came to the conclusion that the plant missed Oishi. He understood its grief; he missed Oishi too. However, his efforts to explain to the plant that Oishi was coming home proved useless.

And now he sat in front of a bright monitor trying desperately to find out how to cure his sick little flower before Oishi came home. He didn't want his love to think he'd treated his gift poorly.

He whined his frustration. He couldn't find anything! He wished he remembered the name of the flower. That might help a little. All he knew was that it was white and grew wild in Japan in some regions.

The sound of their apartment door opening brought his attention away from the screen.

"Fuji!" he called out. Oishi wasn't due home for another few days, so it had to be their roommate coming back. "Could you come here? I've got a problem!"

He couldn't help the pitiful tone that his voice took on. He didn't want Oishi to come home only to see his precious gift in shambles. That's not the kind of guy Eiji was!

Upon hearing the door to his and Oishi's room open, Eiji got up and bolted for the window. He grabbed the plant, ran over to the entrance of the room, and promptly froze. It's wasn't Fuji who stood there, but Oishi with an anguished look on his face.

"Eiji? What's wrong?"

Eiji quickly hid the plant behind his back. "N-nothing! What are you doing home so soon? I thought you were Fuji!"

Oishi's head cocked slightly in confusion. "Eiji, why are you holding that plant behind you?"

Deep blue eyes widened in surprise. "I-I'm not! It's um," Eiji's mind reeled in search of something he could say. "It's nothing!"

Oishi's brow furrowed. "Eiji, I saw the pl—"

"No you didn't!" he desperately denied, cutting Oishi off before he could finish his sentence.

Oishi sighed. "I clearly saw the flower, Eiji. Why are you hiding it?"

"Ohhhh," Eiji whined, knowing he was caught with no way out but the truth. "Oishi, don't look at it. It's terrible," he pleaded. He didn't want Oishi to see his gift like this. "I don't want you to see."

Oishi's face softened into a smile and Eiji calmed a little after seeing this. Oishi's smile had that effect on him. "Just show me, Eiji. I won't be mad."

Defeated, Eiji sighed. He nodded and slowly brought his hands around to show Oishi the awful thing that had happened to the formerly beautiful plant. His face turned away from his lover; he didn't want to see the disappointment that he knew would be there.

"I'm so sorry, Oishi! I don't know what happened to it! I took care of it, really! I sang to it every night before I went to bed!"

If Eiji had been looking, he would have noticed the look of amusement on his love's face. "You sang to it?"

Eiji did look, then. With a pout adorning his lips, he huffed. "Don't tease me! I was worried about it! I read that plants like it when you sing to them."

Oishi nodded, the smile still on his face. "Eiji, it's okay."

"It's sick, Oishi! I don't know what I did wrong." Poor Eiji couldn't help but look and feel utterly depressed.

"You didn't do anything, Eiji, it's alright." A gentle expression on his face, Oishi rested a hand on Eiji's shoulder and took the plant from his boyfriend. He pressed his lips to Eiji's forehead. "I was worried this would happen. This plant is temperamental."

"Eh? What do you mean? It wasn't my fault?"

Oishi laughed. "No, Eiji, it's not your fault. This plant needs an acidic soil. I forgot to tell you that this might happen."

He cupped Eiji's face in his hand and smiled gently. "We'll just put some vinegar in the soil and it'll perk up."

Eiji's face lit up. "That's it? It'll be okay?" At Oishi's nod, Eiji leapt into his arms (the plant being quickly and carefully moved aside). "I was so worried! I didn't want you to think I treated it bad. You gave me this plant to remind me of you and I wouldn't treat you like this."

Oishi laughed into Eiji's hair. "There, there. Everything's fine now. Let's help this plant out and then we'll unpack my bags together. Okay?"

Eiji smiled up at his love and nodded. "Okay!"

"Say, did I tell you what this flower means?" They walked together to the kitchen.

"Nope." Eiji ran for the pantry and grabbed the bottle of distilled vinegar they had lying around for cleaning. "Will this work?"

"That's fine." Oishi smiled and poured a bit around the base of the plant after uncapping it.

"So what's it mean?" Eiji watched Oishi work the way he did everything: with his utmost attention.

"Gardenias—this flower—mean 'you're lovely' in 'flower language.'"

The redhead couldn't help the blush that surfaced on his cheeks. He also couldn't help the ear-to-ear grin. "Well…I think you're 'a gardenia' too." His tongue stuck out cheekily and Oishi couldn't stop the abrupt laugh that left him.

"You think I'm what?"

"I think you're lovely, too, ho-o-ney." He stretched the word into three syllables, the smile still on his face.

Oishi's tanned-by-genetics cheeks flushed a dark red. "I guess we're both gardenias, then."

Eiji's face turned thoughtful at this. "Hmm. Oishi? Do you think it's weird for two guys to call themselves flowers?"

Oishi's cheeks turned a shade darker, but his smile still stood gallantly. "We'll just have to keep it our little secret."


	3. 002: news, letter

**Warning/s: **None. Well...fluff, I guess.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Prince of Tennis. I am not making profit. This is purely a work of fiction. Etc, etc.

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><p><strong>Theme: <strong>#002; news, letter**  
>Title:<strong> Beginnings

_Oishi,_

_Today, I showed you to do the racket spinny thing I figured out last week. You were so cute trying to spin it! I thought you'd break your racket; you dropped it so many times._

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><p><em>Oishi,<em>

_I realized today that I like your determination. I hope I can be like that one day: willing to work so hard with all my strength to accomplish something. I think I admire you a lot, Oishi_.

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><p><em>Oishi,<em>

_Will you teach me to be like you? I watched you today. You're so calm and mature. I didn't used to like those kinds of people, but if it's you, it's okay._

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><p><em>Oishi,<em>

_Even though we're the same age, I look up to you. You're like...my role model. Is that okay, Oishi? Will you be my role model?_

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><p><em>Oishi,<em>

Eiji's pen hovered above the lined page.

_Today I asked you to be my doubles partner. I was nervous that you'd say no. I was so scared that I couldn't sleep last night. It almost felt like I was asking you on a date! Isn't that weird? But you said yes. I was so happy. Let's work hard together, Oishi! Let's be the best pair ever!_

Eiji's cheeks flushed when he realized what he wrote. He quickly inserted the word "doubles" before "pair" and smiled. He folded the letter carefully. Slow, deliberate creases made the paper smaller, more compact. He brought the paper to his face and lightly brushed his lips over it. He wasn't sure why; it had become a ritual.

A desk drawer was opened and the letter was carefully placed on top of the others. This, too, had become a ritual. A nightly revealing to an imaginary confidant. It was more intimate than a journal; it was Oishi he wrote to.

He knew he'd probably never show these to Oishi, but it was okay. The thought was enough.

"Let's be the best doubles pair ever, Oishi," he whispered aloud


	4. 021: violence

**Warning/s: **Non-squicky violence, fluff, and a bit of crack. ...Maybe a little more than a bit.

**Disclaimer/s: **I don't own Prince of Tennis or any of its characters. I am not making profit off of this. I'm just a sad, sad little monkey pounding away at a keyboard. :(

I also don't own _Kai Para_.

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><p><strong>Theme: <strong>#021; violence, pillage/plunder, extortion  
><strong>Title:<strong> Kai Para

It was an annoying battle. The enemy just wouldn't give up. Clangs of metal on metal met Eiji's ears; his sword hitting the armored demon on one side and Oishi hitting it on the other. The thing was so monstrous that he couldn't even see his partner on the other side. If it were a tree, it'd take at least thirty people with outstretched hands to hug it.

They weren't doing much damage. Monstrous claws attached to barely-humanoid hands sliced and slashed at the air angrily. They were all alone against this beast. Their comrades had fallen long ago.

_Dammit! _If only they could surprise it somehow! But the thing had two heads. How did you sneak up on something that could cover its front _and_ its rear?

Fierce red skin glowed under the plated armor. Shit.

"Oishi!" he called desperately to his partner. He hoped to God that he could hear him. "It's going to do _that_ again!"

Eiji ran for cover. He didn't think he'd make it. A loud stomp and an ear-piercing, heart-stopping scream was all he heard as he pressed his back to a tree in fear. He'd only just gotten himself safe.

Malicious purple flames flicked and lashed at the air around him, feeding gluttonously on the grass. It devoured everything it could. It would have devoured him, too, had he been caught in it. They couldn't reach him here.

He breathed a sigh of relief.

Chancing a peek around the giant sycamore only after he was sure the onslaught was over, he hoped and prayed that Oishi had made it to safety before the disgusting blazes got there first.

His heart leapt into his throat. A form lay unmoving on the battlefield.

"_Oishi_!" he screamed the name loud enough to make his throat hoarse with the effort. A steady pounding penetrated the silence as he ran to where his partner lay. The demon didn't matter. Eiji didn't matter. All that he cared about was reaching the satchel on his bag and pulling out his—

"Eiji!"

Deep blue pools blinked in confusion. "E-eh?"

"Don't be so loud! I have my headset on, you know."

Smiling bashfully, Eiji's cheeks colored a pale shade of pink. "S-sorry! Guess I got a little drawn into the game, huh?"

"Is that what happened?" Oishi's voice sounded amused over his own headset.

"D-don't laugh, Oishi! Seeing you—even if it's just your character—lying there on the ground like that…."

His partner's voice took on a gentle note. "I'm sorry, Eiji." After a brief moment of silence, he added, "Looks like we failed the mission, huh?"

"We were so close, too!" Eiji complained loudly. "I _knew_ we shouldn't have gotten into a party with Momo and o-chibi!"

"Oi, oi. We can hear you, you know," said underclassmen stated simultaneously.

"Sorry, sorry!"

Eiji was getting ready to say his goodbyes and log off; he was exhausted from their tennis practice that day and he didn't really want to play this anymore after such a huge failure.

Luckily, he didn't. He wouldn't have gotten the message that sent him to bed with a smile on his face if he had.

_Private Msg from CoolShuuichiro:_

_I'm sorry I worried you, Eiji. Don't be upset, okay? I'm not going anywhere. …Chuu._

The last word, in typical Oishi fashion, was followed by the blushing emoticon.

_I'm not upset,_ Eiji replied. _You know I can't stay mad at you. Chuu!_

In typical Eiji fashion, this was, of course, followed by a heart.

"Goodnight, everyone! See you at practice tomorrow!" He smiled at the chorus of goodbyes he heard as he hit the log off button in the lower-left corner, but only one of those stood out from the rest.

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><p><strong>AN: **Just because I know someone will ask: "chuu" is the Japanese equivalent of "mwua." It's a kissy noise. Why not use the English equivalent? I think it sounds stupid. I'd just do "kiss" as an action (in asterisks, for example, since they are chatting online), but FF.N is a silly fickle beast and doesn't like that. So, the Japanese.

Also, as far as I'm aware, _Kai Para _is not a real game. It's the game that Eiji and Oishi were supposed to be playing together in one of the PairPuri episodes. So if it looked familiar, that's why! :) Hope you enjoyed! :D


	5. 023: candy

**Warning/s: **Uh...fluff? As usual? XD

**Disclaimer/s: **I do not own Prince of Tennis, or any of its characters. I don't even own any candy. T.T I'm not making money off of this.

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><p><strong>Theme: <strong>#023; candy  
><strong>Title:<strong> Sweetness

Eiji's lips always tasted sweet. Kissing him was like popping a fresh piece of bubblegum or a peppermint into your mouth. Wrapping his tongue around Eiji's was like circling a piece of butterscotch. Sugary sweetness filled his senses with every taste. It was an overload. It was having dessert early. It was filling a craving he hadn't experienced since he was a child.

And Oishi loved every minute of it.

Among Eiji's best traits were eyes the color of the deepest ocean, hair the color of the setting sun, and skin the color of the palest sand that flushed the pretty pink of cherry blossoms when Oishi kissed lips that tasted like the sweetest of candies.


	6. 027: overflow

**Warning/s: **Fluff. Noticing a trend?

**Disclaimer/s: **I don't own them. I'm not making money. I'm just a fangirl with too much time on her hands.

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><p><strong>Theme:<strong> #027; overflow  
><strong>Title:<strong> Vanilla

Oishi was completely unprepared for their first "kiss."

The lighting in their part of the diner was too dim. The sun made a valiant effort to break through the blinds glued shut with years of caked-on dust, but no sunlight reached their table. There were either too few bulbs in the overhead lights or too many had blown. He wanted to bring the issue up to their server, but Eiji quickly waved his complaints away.

"It's okay, Oishi! My eyes are like a cat's," he explained (probably) only half-joking.

It wasn't just the lighting that had put Oishi off to the dingy little diner. Looking around, the color scheme looked like it was put together in the dark. The (once) bright blue carpet clashed wonderfully with the burnt oranges and brick reds of the peeling wallpaper, and certainly didn't go with the sea-green tables patterned with squares the color of bubblegum. It did, however, match the uniform of their decidedly forlorn waitress who slid their milkshakes across their table in a manner that suggested she really didn't care if they reached the hands of the patrons or not. Maybe it was best that Eiji stopped Oishi from mentioning the lighting.

The worn brown pleather of their circular booth moaned noisily when Eiji slid around to sit close to Oishi.

"This place is kind-of dumpy and the servers can be mean sometimes," Eiji said, echoing his thoughts as usual. "But the milkshakes are worth it! Try yours!"

Smiling at his insistent boyfriend, Oishi tentatively took a sip of the vanilla beverage.

"It's delicious!" His surprise was evident in his voice and Eiji laughed heartily.

"I told you!"

The texture was perfect. It was neither too watery, nor too thick. It wasn't too sweet, but held just enough sugar to satisfy Oishi's tastebuds. It was perfect. Oishi marveled in the fact that this place could hold such a secret. Trust Eiji to find such a thing.

'Speaking of the redhead….' Oishi glanced over to see the boy happily sipping his strawberry drink. He hummed to himself between sips. His eyes closed in an expression of utter contentment. A light flush crept onto Oishi's cheeks at this sight. Eiji really had no idea how adorable he was.

Green eyes suddenly found themselves staring at a vanilla milkshake. His stomach was doing acrobatics of its own and his heart had decided to test the limits of its speed. He couldn't say why he was nervous all of a sudden. Something about watching Eiji in what seemed like such a private moment, maybe.

He took a hurried, absent-minded sip of his milkshake by way of picking up the glass. This turned out to be a bad decision. His mouth filled with too much of the sweet mixture. Thin trails of white ice cream dribbled from his mouth as he swallowed the mouthful.

Eiji chose that moment to reach out and turn Oishi's face toward his. Perhaps he hadn't noticed that Oishi made such a silly mistake. Perhaps he'd decided not to waste a moment when Oishi was thoroughly distracted. To this day, Oishi still isn't sure why Eiji did it.

Before Oishi could make a noise of protest, before he could reach for the pile of rough brown paper towels that replaced napkins at their table, Eiji had grabbed Oishi's chin, pivoted his face towards Eiji's, and planted a hurried kiss on the corner of his mouth. (Oishi could only guess that he missed due to his rush.)

Eiji's pale cheeks turned a vibrant red. He quickly turned back to his own milkshake before whispering quietly, "you make vanilla taste good."

In that moment, it didn't matter that they were in this horribly tacky place. It didn't matter that his own cheeks burned from the double embarrassment of his own clumsiness combined with the hurried kiss. It didn't matter that they were getting odd looks from the perpetually-frowning middle-aged waitress. Because in that moment, all that mattered was the fact that Eiji's lips had touched his.

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><p><strong>AN: **Two updates in one day? Le gasp! O: Indeed, indeed. I'm on a HUGE Golden Pair kick right now (again). Expect a lot more updates soon. :3


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